Mid range to long range pictures are going to look fine on the 99xx. It's the real close up ones with poor lighting that are going to look horrible. You're not going to be able to achieve the same clarity with an all focus camera.

The pics had to be shrunk to upload as attachment. Below are links for the original version where it doesn't lose resolution.

Thank you for posting those ratchetjaw, I guess you are right in that we will have to see what the mode setting for text does for the 9900/30. I'm very happy to hear the results of your real world battery test - that's GOOD NEWS. The picture difference between the EDoF and AF are indeed huge.

The camera, .pdf & corporate website issues are the only ones I need to close out and if they pass muster I will snap up a 9930 on Sprint provided they puch VVM to the end user - I will be testing an iphone and 9780 from AT&T next week just to cover my bases.

Mid range to long range pictures are going to look fine on the 99xx. It's the real close up ones with poor lighting that are going to look horrible. You're not going to be able to achieve the same clarity with an all focus camera.

The pics had to be shrunk to upload as attachment. Below are links for the original version where it doesn't lose resolution.

Thank you for posting those ratchetjaw, I guess you are right in that we will have to see what the mode setting for text does for the 9900/30. I'm very happy to hear the results of your real world battery test - that's GOOD NEWS. The picture difference between the EDoF and AF are indeed huge.

The camera, .pdf & corporate website issues are the only ones I need to close out and if they pass muster I will snap up a 9930 on Sprint provided they puch VVM to the end user - I will be testing an iphone and 9780 from AT&T next week just to cover my bases.

Your welcome no problem. Yes we will have to see. I will be happy with it either way. Most of my shots are going to be within the sweet spot i hope

HOLY OUCH Batman! The Camera is H O R R I B L E! So bad Batman wouldn't even carry it in his bag of many tricks!

Goodness...we're not blind people, the camera pics (at least from this device) are pathetic.

Okay, calm down...maybe this does have something to do with it not being the final release. If not...I have to say this is really the final nail in the coffin for me. I will finally admit to myself that this Bold is inferior to the competition and it's not even released in the US yet.

...and this list of mediocrity just keeps growing. Oh did I mention this phone isn't even released yet? Goodness RIM. Oh my...not feeling good right now.

I know, it seems silly to feel this way about the camera’s obvious shortcomings but to me it shows a little bit more how RIM manages to make really bad decisions in a list of mediocrity that keeps growing .

This is ANOTHER bad decision that Wall Street is also seeing b/c it reflects in their stock price. Because RIM is NOT making the best decisions right now as a company I fear their ability to execute their acquired QNX software will be poorly managed as well! Now I feel they will dumb-down QNX and manage to ruin the only hope I have left in this Canadian company.

Again, I'm gonna try to be patient to see what the "real" reviews are like for the US bound Bolds but the more I’m finding out about this new Bold the faster I'm losing faith!

Given the current discussion HERE which spells out that we are again limited on app storage, can you tell us how much app space you actually had out of the box before you installed anything? I know you can shrink the OS, but that just defeats the purpose, RIM needs to get their current OS into the 21st century with ROM/RAM then maybe they can get going with QNX.

I have 242.9 MB free space,i didn t shrink anything,i just installed yesterday 7.0.0.261 downloaded from here,but this is a CDMA version.
In app management i can see that BLACKBERRY 7.0.0 SYSTEM SOFTWARE has 248 MB.

It s a test unit and i got just the phone and a data cable.It was brand new 0 mins talked on it(i checked with BUYR code),i dont remember how much MB were available.

I have 242.9 MB free space,i didn t shrink anything,i just installed yesterday 7.0.0.261 downloaded from here,but this is a CDMA version.
I app management i can see that BLACKBERRY 7.0.0 SYSTEM SOFTWARE has 248 MB

I know BlackBerry apps aren't big...but that's a still amount of storage space for apps. Hopefully it's that way since you have a prerelease model.

Well given the camera alone, I hope us VZW customers have something else to select from for a new BB. I think you could get better camera quality out of a Motorola Razr. Absolutely disgusting, hope the real deal isn't this bad.

Ok, so it comes with 768MB, the OS takes up 248MB and you have 242.9MB left. That to me is pretty low. Regardless of how many apps (my BB isn't going to be a game console) but still 242.9 just seems a decade old to me. I want to go back to a BB and a solid platform for business but I need something that will actually not be squeezed daily for available space.

I don't keep tons of emails, that is what my laptop is for (read and delete), contacts, well I have a lot of those. Its just tough to make the decision until I actually see one I guess.

So everyone is complaining about the 9930 not having auto focus, is this true? I have a hard time believing that but if you really have one you will be able to tell me as well as everyone else if it does have auto focus or not.

First, thank you OP for the pictures and the others for their pics. Now everywhere I go to look at the specs it says it has AF. I will wait to get my very own 9900 in my hands to make a judgement. No matter what I've decided to purchase one. I would hope others would do the same and stop complaining.

Apparently the Torch 9810 still has auto focus...but I can count on one hand how many times I've needed to take close up pictures with my phone in the past two years (Bold 9700), so it's not a deal breaker for me.